This is a true story. The events are real but the names and identifying details of the individuals have been disguised to safeguard their privacy and prevent any embarrassment to them or their families.

Dedication

Dedicated to Sarah's parents.

Acknowledgements

I feel greatly honoured to have been allowed to read 'Sarah's' detailed diaries of her traumatic ordeal. Because the diaries have been used, it seemed appropriate to write the book in the first person. I am also very grateful to 'Sarah' for her help in writing this book and her patience in answering my questions.

Thanks are also due to her parents for letting us tell the story in the hope that it may help others who find themselves in a similar position.

I would also like to thank Deo Gloria Outreach for the continuing encouragement and Tim Harding, the Director, for writing the foreword.

Foreword

The story you are about to read will strike many as so bizarre as to defy belief. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes ludicrous, the situations in which Sarah finds herself, and the pressures to which she is subjected seem to belong to another world. In a sense they do for the Exclusive Brethren are increasingly ensuring that their daily paths overlap as little as possible with those of the rest of society. As you follow the vicissitudes of Sarah's teenage life, the question may well arise as to whether her case is not an isolated instance. Sadly there is strong evidence that such treatment is the norm for those who rebel or question the teaching they hear within this group; they too will undergo the same mental and spiritual tug-of-war as you will read of here.

For those who, like myself, have had past connections with the Exclusive Brethren, there is an added sadness to the story, for the Brethren movement in its origins was Godly, Biblically based and evangelistically motivated. It should be explained that there are various groupings with the Brethren movement and that the authoritarian group referred to in this book are those who followed the leadership of James Taylor Junior. In the last thirty five years there has been a steady movement away from the Biblical principles which guided the founding fathers in the nineteenth century and this drift has continued even since the events recounted here.

There can be no justification for publishing books which simply sling mud. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 reminds us that love does not gloat over evil. In retelling Sarah's story, Marion Field has sensitively avoided the temptation to sensationalise it. I believe this book will serve two very valuable purposes. Firstly, it will help those who have neighbours or business contacts in the group to realise something of the pressures many are enduring. Perhaps another Bill and Janice will be able to offer a lifeline of friendship and hospitality to a young person struggling to decide whether to leave or stay. Secondly it may find its way into the hands of younger Brethren. It is my prayer that through reading it and hearing the other side of the story - not least sharing Sarah's discovery there are many thousands of other Christians in the 'world' - they will have the courage to make the break themselves, and encounter, perhaps for the first time, live Christianity.

If only a handful do so, Marion's work and Sarah's ordeal will have been worth while.

Tim Harding
Director, Deo Gloria Trust

Deo Gloria Outreach, an arm of the Deo Gloria Trust, is a non-denominational Christian organisation offering advice and support on a confidential basis to people encountering the type of problems described in this book.

© Marion Field - Reproduced by Permission - All Rights Reserved